Happy Earth Day?

 


Why does that sound like "happy colonoscopy"?

The New Republic asks "Remember When Earth Day Used to Be Cool?"


A person could be forgiven for being cynical about Earth Day in 2022. Even ExxonMobil celebrates the holiday. Last year, the company released an ad praising its employees around the world who “work tirelessly to reduce emissions and work toward a low-carbon future.” Some of the employees seem sincere, while others look a bit like they’re starring in a hostage video, eyes wide, a little too intense in their assertions of gratitude and fealty. Some are working on lowering emissions through natural gas production and carbon capture. One earnest soul identifies ways to make refineries more energy efficient. Another even asserts that she is doing this work for her children’s future, “which is energizing and motivating.”

Earth Day has been like this for a while now: an apparent competition between polluters to see who can most shamelessly “greenwash” their brand. We barely feel surprised to hear oil company employees from Clinton, New Jersey and Midland, Texas telling us that they’re the ones saving the world. It’s easy to lapse into total cynicism about the holiday, even the wholesome beach cleanups—particularly when the beach cleanups are taking place amid the near complete collapse of the Biden administration’s climate platform. It’s too easy to forget Earth Day’s early history, which is inspiring and long overdue for a revival.

e360.yale reminds us that the USA has warmed 2.6 degrees F since the first Earth Day in 1970.
 

Comments

  1. TrailblazerApril 23, 2022 at 4:58 PM

    Earth day has been hijacked just as the word woke, amongst others, has been .
    The Modus operandi of the right has been, for some time, to twist and reconfigure well meaning progressive views in such a way that they are deemed offensive.
    So far they have been very successful.
    The result has been the great divide between political views .

    TB


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Disaffected LibApril 24, 2022 at 1:00 PM

      I had the gut-wrenching experience on Earth Day of watching a TV ad from the Canadian petro-types, pure greenwashing. Preposterous

      Delete

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